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Huron
The City of Huron was a population center that was located on the planet Alpha Centauri II. The city was constructed after the planet was terraformed in the 24th Century. Huron was part of a prototype style of urban development where the city would be climate controlled in the sense that a series of emitters would close off part of the city with an energy film. This film, weak enough to let oxygen and other vital gasses through, but strong enough to keep the cold out and heat in. Huron was located in the north of the planet and was the de facto capital of the whole planet, even though the population of the city was lower than some of the other locations on the planet. As such, it was older looking with 24th Century style prefabricated towers. Description & History Alpha Centauri II was not always habitable. Even though today the planet is comfortable for Humans to live on, originally, the planet had a larger concentration of carbon dioxide and a higher average temperature. Alpha Centauri was lower on the list of priority for terraforming, losing its slot to planets like Reach and Tau Ceti b. When the planet was terraformed in the later part of the 2300s, one of the first cities was placed in the northern hemisphere where the temperature had not yet normalized due to changed airflow. Huron was intended to be part of a pilot program where cities could be climate controlled using energy fields to manipulate ambient temperature and trap parts of it in the city. On February 15th, 2401, the generators powering the system went online, causing the temperature within the city to jump to seventy degrees, versus the outside ambient temperature of nearly ten below zero. Huron became the progenitor project for several other cities across other rapidly growing Human space. By 2500, roughly fifty other cities have been constructed using a similar heating concept. While expensive, this was necessary on planets that had colder environments. Detractors argued that such a concept for a city was impractical for usage and that cities on such planets should be self-contained. Proponents for the project said that colonists needed to be in open air to help morale, claiming that people shut up in arcologies would never get the outside feeling. Huron was a compressed city. Because of the fact that the generators were installed a set distance of approximately ten kilometers from the city center, it limits the amount of urban development possible, forcing the city either to build up or down. A good portion of Huron lies below the surface and skyscrapers are common in a relatively small area. Skyscrapers above the field's protective barrier would be exposed to colder temperatures. On the ground, Huron was styled like a modern city in that the street was styled like a grid to allow for easy development along the roads. Urban bylaws allowed for only a certain amount of floor space to be used on the ground level, so as not to waste space. However, those with a good amount of money could purchase more property to allow for larger development. In addition to this, purchasing air rights was not unheard of in Huron. Like many colonies, Huron had a Colonial Street which is one of the first roads constructed in a new population center of major size, and Main Street, which ran perpendicular to Colonial Street. The subsequent streets ran out along the axis of the road, which makes Huron seem like a checkerboard from above. Around the furthest current streets, a ring road is established, which is called Circumference Way. There have been two instances of this known as Circumference One, and Circumference Two. Urban development has not necessitated the construction of a third circumference road. A lot of these roads have palm trees lining them, which thrive in the adjusted weather system. This effect seems rather strange when it is storming outside with snow piling around the city. Also of note, the energy field does not stop matter such as snow from passing through the city. This allows the snow to transform into rain essentially as soon as it breaches the field. The dominant demographic of Huron are French-descended colonists seconded by Asian-descended. Much of Alpha Centauri's surface features like mountain ranges and oceans have Chinese influence specifically. Standard English is a trade language spoken within the city thanks to the proximity to Earth, though Standard French is spoken as well. Cantonese is also spoken here as well, with a good part of Asian-descended gathering in their own district of the city. European-descended colonists compose well over sixty percent of the city's population, with Asian composing thirty percent, African being only five percent, and the remaining population being of other ethnicity. Two major roads enter and exit the city. The first leads south, which is known as Northern Highway 7, which is a six lane highway that serves as a thoroughfare to southern cities. The other is known as Northern Highway 8. This heads up and around a lake known as Lake Jai Jin, which is nearly twice the size of Lake Erie, which is sometimes known as the Jai Jin Sea due to its size. Northern Highway 8 is a four lane highway going in both directions which has multiple off-ramps leading to small town established even farther north than Huron. Smaller roads exit the city at irregular locations but lead to townships that are less than fifty kilometers away from the city center. From these locations, the tallest building in the city, LaRoc Tower is plainly seen, even when the base of the town is swallowed by the curvature of the planet. Huron itself has an airport, but the seaport is its own town situated on the Jai Jin Sea. This town, called Morlow, is considered an incorporated district of Huron. Ships from the south dock at these areas to deliver goods and supplies which are the trucked to Huron in large transports. The airport also doubles as a spaceport where transports land to offload passengers and cargo. SSTO aircraft are common which can be launched, reach orbit, and then land. CTOL and STOL aircraft are also present for planetary flight. The city was briefly occupied by the Terran Dominion when a group of their forces breached the Home Universe and attacked Alpha Centaruri b as well as other planets close to, and even including Earth. The Terran forces were eventually driven from the city following their defeat in Earth orbit, and the citizens of the city returned from the south. As of 3241, the city is in excellent shape and currently experiencing an economic boom, blissfully unaware of the Prisoner. List of Appearances * The Terran Incident. Category:City Category:Locations